Returning the Favor and other Slices of Life

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Until somebody loses their job. No, not me. I'm still in good shape, and they show no signs of not wanting to continue to put up with me for a lot longer. But my company did become the latest to lay some people off today, and it kinda sucked. It really hit home to me what the leadership and population of our country did to our economy when friends of mine lost their jobs. Up until now, even when real-life friends lost or were afraid of losing their jobs, it didn't seem real. For the first time in a long time today, I was worried about my job. And that's not a good place to be in a single-income family.

Now, really, my job is as secure as anyone in the company, and the company is in no way close to folding. But we saw cuts in almost every office today, and that made some harsh realities come into focus for me. My offices were spared any layoffs, but the time may come when I am the person who has to make the decision of who stays and who goes, and I don't look forward to that day. I don't think it will come to that, I really don't. Our company operates with very little debt, and is very cash and inventory-heavy. But in a sales organization, when people aren't buying, it's hard to support a large sales force. So cuts were made today. And good people lost their jobs. I know, it's a reality that a lot of you have been seeing for months, and some of you have experienced firsthand, and for that I'm really sorry.

I hope that when we come out on the other side of this mess, and I have faith that we will, and in an America that is not terribly different than the one of a couple years ago when we went into this mess. I hope that when we come out of it everyone's opinions of money and the people that handle it are a little different. And I mea everyone - individuals, corporations and government. I hope that people in our country wake up an accept responsibility for their spending. I hope that corporations stop trying to cheat every nickel out of the system and just make and honest profit. I hope that our government finds a balance between oversight and free market that we can all accept and that will benefit everyone relatively equally. I don't really believe that all those things will happen, but I can hope. Right?

Sorry to sound so morose, I'm just a little shaken this evening. I've given my entire adult life to this company, and while I still have a job, and all my people are still employed, it still shakes one of the foundations of my life and livelihood to hear the word layoff associated with my company. So I'm a little scared. I'm a lot sad for the people that no longer work for our company. I hope that in a few months this will start to turn around and we can hire them back, and if not, that they'll find even better gigs somewhere else. And I hope all of you guys are ok.